Organizational Justice, Professional Identification, Empathy, and Meaningful Work During COVID-19 Pandemic: Are They Burnout Protectors in Physicians and Nurses?
Burnout has been recognized as a serious health problem. In Portugal, before COVID-19 Pandemic, there were strong indicators of high prevalence of burnout in physicians and nurses. However, the Portuguese Health Care Service was able to efficiently respond to the increased demands. This study intend...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566139/full |
| _version_ | 1818724255155617792 |
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| author | Isabel Correia Andreia E. Almeida |
| author_facet | Isabel Correia Andreia E. Almeida |
| author_sort | Isabel Correia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Burnout has been recognized as a serious health problem. In Portugal, before COVID-19 Pandemic, there were strong indicators of high prevalence of burnout in physicians and nurses. However, the Portuguese Health Care Service was able to efficiently respond to the increased demands. This study intends to understand how psychosocial variables might have been protective factors for burnout in physicians and nurses in Portugal. Specifically, we considered several psychosocial variables that have been found to be protective factors for burnout in previous research and we compared their predictive and unique impact in the prediction of burnout. These variables are perceptions of justice (distributive, procedural, justice from colleagues, justice from patients, and their families), professional identification, meaningful work and empathy. We also included workload, as a risk factor, and controlled other variables that can be confounds for burnout, such as socio-demographic variables, ideological variables (religiosity, political orientation), and specific variables related with COVID-19 pandemic. The sample of the present study is composed by 229 physicians (aged between 23 and 70 years old, M = 36.54; SD = 10.72; 48% male and 52% female) and 268 nurses (aged between 22 and 69 years old, M = 34.96; SD = 9.52; 27% male and 73% female). An online survey was created using Qualtrics and participants were recruited via Facebook and LinkedIn. The data were collected during 29 days (between the 45th and the 74th days after the first diagnosed case of COVID-19 in Portugal). The results showed that workload was a significant risk factor, except for disengagement in physicians. The most consistent protectors across samples were procedural justice (for both dimensions of burnout, both in physicians and nurses) and professional identification (for disengagement, both in physicians and nurses; for exhaustion only in physicians). This study suggests that decreasing workload and promoting procedural justice and professional identification are key factors that might be simultaneously and independently addressed in interventions for reducing the risk of burnout or preventing it from occurring in the first place. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T21:23:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4aa3255b456b4f47a60fda6df5f1ff37 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T21:23:30Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-4aa3255b456b4f47a60fda6df5f1ff372022-12-21T21:32:05ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-12-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.566139566139Organizational Justice, Professional Identification, Empathy, and Meaningful Work During COVID-19 Pandemic: Are They Burnout Protectors in Physicians and Nurses?Isabel Correia0Andreia E. Almeida1Departamento de Psicologia Social e das Organizações, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL, Lisbon, PortugalInstituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL, Lisbon, PortugalBurnout has been recognized as a serious health problem. In Portugal, before COVID-19 Pandemic, there were strong indicators of high prevalence of burnout in physicians and nurses. However, the Portuguese Health Care Service was able to efficiently respond to the increased demands. This study intends to understand how psychosocial variables might have been protective factors for burnout in physicians and nurses in Portugal. Specifically, we considered several psychosocial variables that have been found to be protective factors for burnout in previous research and we compared their predictive and unique impact in the prediction of burnout. These variables are perceptions of justice (distributive, procedural, justice from colleagues, justice from patients, and their families), professional identification, meaningful work and empathy. We also included workload, as a risk factor, and controlled other variables that can be confounds for burnout, such as socio-demographic variables, ideological variables (religiosity, political orientation), and specific variables related with COVID-19 pandemic. The sample of the present study is composed by 229 physicians (aged between 23 and 70 years old, M = 36.54; SD = 10.72; 48% male and 52% female) and 268 nurses (aged between 22 and 69 years old, M = 34.96; SD = 9.52; 27% male and 73% female). An online survey was created using Qualtrics and participants were recruited via Facebook and LinkedIn. The data were collected during 29 days (between the 45th and the 74th days after the first diagnosed case of COVID-19 in Portugal). The results showed that workload was a significant risk factor, except for disengagement in physicians. The most consistent protectors across samples were procedural justice (for both dimensions of burnout, both in physicians and nurses) and professional identification (for disengagement, both in physicians and nurses; for exhaustion only in physicians). This study suggests that decreasing workload and promoting procedural justice and professional identification are key factors that might be simultaneously and independently addressed in interventions for reducing the risk of burnout or preventing it from occurring in the first place.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566139/fullburnoutorganizational justiceprofessional identificationsocial identityempathymeaningful work |
| spellingShingle | Isabel Correia Andreia E. Almeida Organizational Justice, Professional Identification, Empathy, and Meaningful Work During COVID-19 Pandemic: Are They Burnout Protectors in Physicians and Nurses? Frontiers in Psychology burnout organizational justice professional identification social identity empathy meaningful work |
| title | Organizational Justice, Professional Identification, Empathy, and Meaningful Work During COVID-19 Pandemic: Are They Burnout Protectors in Physicians and Nurses? |
| title_full | Organizational Justice, Professional Identification, Empathy, and Meaningful Work During COVID-19 Pandemic: Are They Burnout Protectors in Physicians and Nurses? |
| title_fullStr | Organizational Justice, Professional Identification, Empathy, and Meaningful Work During COVID-19 Pandemic: Are They Burnout Protectors in Physicians and Nurses? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Organizational Justice, Professional Identification, Empathy, and Meaningful Work During COVID-19 Pandemic: Are They Burnout Protectors in Physicians and Nurses? |
| title_short | Organizational Justice, Professional Identification, Empathy, and Meaningful Work During COVID-19 Pandemic: Are They Burnout Protectors in Physicians and Nurses? |
| title_sort | organizational justice professional identification empathy and meaningful work during covid 19 pandemic are they burnout protectors in physicians and nurses |
| topic | burnout organizational justice professional identification social identity empathy meaningful work |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566139/full |
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